Lord Tomlinson: My Lords, as the noble Lord knows, I have made my argument. I will listen to his later on if I have to.
	At times, I believe that my Government are too timid about Europe. There are times when they should show greater drive, imagination and commitment to some of what I believe are our European obligations. I represented your Lordships' House in the Convention on the Future of Europe together with the noble Lord, Lord Maclennan, and supported a draft constitution, as did my Government initially. Prior to ratification and under strong parliamentary pressure, the Government identified their red lines and sought to protect them. They succeeded, which resulted in major changes for all and even greater changes for some. The UK red lines were entrenched in the reform treaty by opt-ins, opt-outs, exemptions and emergency brakes.
	Notwithstanding my view about the timidity of my Government, the simple fact is that we have only one reform treaty on offer and we have only one thing that we can do with it: if we do not support it, we must reject it. If we reject it, because of the requirement of unanimity in treaty changes, we will wind up with possibly the worst of all conclusions, which is a continuation of the Nice treaty, the most unsatisfactory of the amendments that have taken place over the years. It is not a question of the promised land being round the corner if we get rid of this reform treaty; this is the only reform treaty on offer and the alternative is the status quo of the treaty of Nice. I have my regrets, as I know other noble Lords may have, but our idiosyncratic wishes are not on offer when we come to debate the reform treaty.
	We have a draft reform treaty agreed by heads of government with unanimity. It can be changed only by unanimity; we will not be offered a variant treaty. We must ratify or reject what is currently on the table. Nobody in your Lordships' House should allow their concept of the best to jeopardise the good that I believe is on offer.
	What does the reform treaty significantly improve to the substantial benefit of not only our partners in the EU but also us? The noble Lord, Lord Grenfell, spelled out clearly the benefits to national parliaments. Those are very significant improvements, which we would be foolhardy to criticise or reject as somehow being a worsening of the position of national parliaments. There is the whole packet of extremely important institutional changes. My noble friend the Lord President referred clearly to the benefits of having a full-time president. There are the advantages that are made in the area of common foreign and security policy, with the double-hatting of the high representative.
	The advantages that have come from our engagement in common foreign and security policy are many and important. That role has expanded dramatically. Our role in the Middle East peace process and in the stabilisation of the Balkans, our role with our European partners in relation to Iran, the various security missions in Bosnia, in Gaza, on the West Bank and in the Central African Republic and the role that has just been adopted in Chad are very important. They will be made more efficient and effective by the system of the double-hatting of the high representative. The benefits are manifold and I am sure that we will go through them when we come to ratification.
	Much more can be said in favour of the reform treaty; we will no doubt talk about this day by day over goodness knows how many days when we come to ratification. As I said, only two things are on offer: the reform treaty agreed by unanimity and requiring ratification by unanimity, or the treaty of Rome, with all its imperfections. No other options or permutations are available. In such circumstances, I unhesitatingly commend the agenda for the Lisbon summit. I look forward to my right honourable friend the Prime Minister coming back and saying that the discussions have been successfully concluded and I look forward to us getting the Bill that it will be our prerogative to ratify.

Lord Williamson of Horton: My Lords, I begin by welcoming the Government's decision to hold a debate before a European Council. We have traditionally had Statements after European Councils, with a rather brief time for comments, particularly for Cross-Benchers. This is one of the first debates in advance of decisions by heads of state and government in a European Council. It may be true that, in the particular case of the reform treaty, our influence on the course of events is small, but the debate is none the less welcome.
	I spent a good part of my career in the United Kingdom public service dealing with EU matters, and some years in the European Commission as I yo-yoed between London and Brussels in those days before the wonderful Eurostar. In the light of that I declare that I have pensions from both sources. More particularly, I spent many years on the business of European Councils and I was present in—not, unlike most officials, outside—every meeting of the heads of state and government in the European Council for 10 years.
	Although this debate is very welcome, we do not know precisely all the subjects that will be discussed at this European Council. At Seville, in 2002, the European Union decided that in future the draft agenda of European Councils would normally be available about six weeks before the meeting and the draft conclusions about three to four weeks before. I know that the Select Committee in another place in its current inquiry is considering who in its opinion might have access to these documents, but, in the mean time, that does not mean that ordinary Back-Benchers or even ex-Convenors have seen one.
	Obviously, the reform treaty is the principal dish on this occasion. I am not too clear about the other, perhaps related, matters which may also be discussed in the European Council. I understand that these may include the proposal to appoint a group of wise men—and women, I hope—to examine the future direction of the Union. If so, I express the hope that they will be given terms of reference that enable them to concentrate on those issues that will be of interest and benefit not just to the so-called elite but to all our fellow countrymen and women and that they will not delve into institutional questions which should, in my view, be put away for many years to come.
	I assume also that there will be discussions on globalisation and the European Union, to which the Government have referred in their pamphlet of October this year entitled Global Europe, to which the noble Baroness the Lord President referred. I welcome that pamphlet and shall return to it later in my speech.
	I come now to the reform treaty, as it is expected that this will be signed by the leaders of the member states of the European Union at the Lisbon European Council. If so, we know that the Government intend that it should not be submitted to a referendum but should be submitted for ratification by Parliament in the tradition of our parliamentary government. In consequence, we in this House will be asked to approve a Bill for that purpose. The treaty itself cannot be amended. It seems to me none the less that the key issue for us is to judge whether and in what respects the treaty is of benefit to the United Kingdom and its people since that is the decision we have to take in voting for or against a Bill.
	I have already made it clear in earlier debates that I consider the measures in this treaty to be useful but not very important for Britain. That view puts me in a very small minority. Relative to the major issues of today, in particular the changes in our society resulting from the high level of immigration and our involvement in wars outside our frontiers, this treaty is not at the top of my agenda. However, I would stress the place of the proposed treaty and its historical context within the European Union. It was launched in the belief by many member states that the highly significant enlargement of the Union by the recent addition of the 12 new member states in central and south Europe, so that we are now a Union of almost half a billion people, in a very diverse Union of different national histories and traditions—a truly great event in the history of our continent—does call for some changes in the institutional structure and the rules to make the new Union work better. As I have always been a strong supporter of the recent enlargement of the Union, I think that this perception by our partners of the role of the new treaty is also important for Britain. We have to recognise that this is what our partner member states think and we have to take proper account of that.
	I pick out some points which illustrate why there is this perception of the reform treaty. Many of them have been mentioned here and no doubt will be mentioned again so I select a few. First, it is clear to me that the role which the member states of the Union together can play in encouraging peace, respect for human values, international development and stability, both worldwide and around our borders, has not been as effective as it might have been.
	The common foreign and security policy has played a part but most member states think that they can do better as a result of the proposed changes, in particular, combining the foreign policy roles of the Commission and the high representative of the Council. The single person holding this role will be appointed by the member states in the European Council and can be sacked by it. He will chair the foreign ministers' council and be responsible to it, thus ending the six-monthly rotation rule. This should not only make action more consistent but also maximise the advantage of combining diplomacy and the leverage which the Commission can sometimes bring to bear. It is true that this is no more than a redistribution of existing functions in Brussels in order to make them more effective in arriving at and implementing policies on which all member states agree, but in the greatly enlarged Union this can be of value.
	Secondly, there already exists a large network of external delegations of the European Commission. How many may come as a surprise; they fell within my responsibility to some degree when I was in Brussels. There are plenty of them all over the place, concerned for the most part with trade, aid and development issues. That is clearly a legacy of great value to the enlarged Union. It is now proposed to make better use of this network by putting it under the high representative, thus meshing it in with national diplomatic services which would also provide some people from their own national resources to widen the scope of the delegations' work. While maintaining our own excellent diplomatic service and presence in the world, I am certainly in favour of a little help from the External Action Service of the European Union. Indeed, when I was in Brussels I always believed that it could be used better.
	Thirdly, the reform treaty includes elements which reflect public opinion right across the Union and are the opposite of supranational; for example, the increase in the role of national Parliaments—about which there has been quite a bit of discussion so far, and I am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Grenfell, for his intervention on that—and the specific recognition that the European Union's powers are only those which member states confer upon it,
	"to attain objectives they have in common".
	More widely, we should use this Lisbon European Council, if the reform treaty is signed this week, as an opportunity to take stock, to turn away from dry and sterile arguments about institutional or treaty matters and to look towards the areas for priority action which we, the British, want to see in Europe. I therefore welcome the Government's pamphlet Global Europe. Most of the British public will welcome the eight priority areas in it, and their first reaction will be, "Well, now, let's get on with it and achieve them, or at least make some progress towards them". That is clearly true of growth, employment, free trade, openness, climate change and energy security, and tackling terrorism and organised crime. Of course, most potential progress must rely on specific actions, such as improvement of the EU's Emissions Trading Scheme or the opening up of the energy and telecoms markets, as we have seen in the EU's action to reduce mobile phone roaming charges.
	One point which the brochure might emphasise a little more is the importance of making as effective as possible the adaptation resulting from the current enlargement of the Union. It is not a one-off operation; some things must still be dealt with to make the best use of this greatly enlarged market and area of influence. The document demonstrates that the European Union is involved worldwide in tackling problems and exploiting opportunities which can be of considerable benefit to Britain. I strongly hope that, after the reform treaty, we can look to a future in the European Union no longer mired in treaty amendments, but committed to the search for action within the Union—which men and women in the Bell Inn Broadway, the indicator of political life in my part of the world, will see as worth while for them and their children.